I always wanted a brother but by the time my sister and I were old enough to realize and ask, my parents said no; they weren’t having any more kids. Meet my little cousin Todd.

Todd Jr. was born January 20, 2007. His mother, Monique, is my father’s niece and my cousin. So does that make Todd my second cousin? I have no idea how that works and but don’t define family members like that anyway. Todd is 7 years old and he’s a ball of energy. He is short for his age but it is understandable being that both of his parents are short, and he was premature, or does that even matter? I was not there when Todd was born but I remember when he was alive and present for his mother’s baby shower, which took place at my house. He was very small. His mother, silly as she wants to be, took one of my sister’s dolls and wrapped it up in a blanket. She went downstairs to her guest with the doll and pretended that it was Todd. My sister and I were upstairs with the “real Todd.” My sister held him first as she sat on the bed. I was shaking even thinking about holding him. I was nervous. He was just so tiny, and I was 9 and I remember thinking that it wasn’t a very good idea if I held him.

Todd is very silly, energetic, and he loves to dance. Every time he walks in my house he always greets everybody. Which is a wonderful trait to have. He says “Jada!” and smiles really hard. He is missing his two front teeth though so it makes it funny but cute. Like stated previously, Todd loves dancing. He enjoys dancing to Mindless Behavior and Justin Bieber. When there is a bunch of family around, he gets shy at first and it takes other people to start dancing with him but if he’s just at my house and there is no occasion, he goes straight into his zone. He always asks me “Jada, can you put on my girl, my girl, she loves me” referring to the Mindless Behavior song, and his all time favorite is “Never Say Never.” He gets most of his dances from watching videos but other than that, he just watches people like my dad, dance. My dad taught him how to pop lock so he tries to do that with the beat sometimes and he likes flipping and breakdancing. It’s actually really interesting to watch because he’s so small. The family keeps telling his mom to sign him up for stuff and put that talent to use!
When Todd was born, neither of his parents were ready if you ask me. They were still young themselves and didn’t have a stable lifestyle to raise a child. Then, once his father, Todd, got arrested and put in jail, it made it even harder. His mother needed help. It came to a point when the option for him to go in foster care came to life. No one wanted that to happen so we began looking for other resources. Todd came to live with us for a while. That was when he was around 1 or 2. He stayed for a couple months and then his mother took him back.
Todd became very comfortable in my house. He runs around, he just comes in and gets snacks or a juice because he knows where everything he needs in the kitchen is, etc. I nicknamed him monkey because he’s always climbing on something and acting silly. He still comes over from time to time and during holidays he tends to spend the night with us because an event always is either at my house or in Jersey or Delaware. His mother doesn’t have a car so they ride with us and by the time we get back, it’s too late for them to take SEPTA unless we drive them home.

Todd and I are very close. He calls me his favorite cousin, yeah right. We get along so well probably because we are so much alike one another. We’re both really silly, we both like dancing, singing, and having fun. Having Todd around is hilarious. We just have a lot of fun together. He knows that I’m the one he can play around with. Oppose to my older sister, Jasmine who he only sees her “fun side” on occasion. My relationship with Todd is amazing and I love it but I noticed something about it, he doesn’t take me seriously. Taking him out of “play mode” and into “no seriously, you need to ..” mode. One of the hardest and annoying things ever. Whenever I yell at him he always smirks. I don’t know how, but I end up laughing and then he laughs and then it becomes unsuccessful. I’d have to get really upset with him to seriously yell at him and he can do whatever and I still won’t crack a smile. All seriousness. One day, maybe. My relationship with Todd is related to most of my family’s relationships with one another. We all get along very well and we become so close with each other our bonds become something more. For example, my older sister and cousin Brittany used to call each other sisters, my mom and my cousin she grew up with and lived with, she calls her big brother, etc. We all are just so close and I love that.

My love for Todd is to the moon and back, I’d do anything for him. I always wanted a brother. So thank you Todd, for being the little brother, that I never had. Todd, if you ever read this, which I hope one day you will, I just want to say, I love you monkey.